No
American or East Anglian can think seriously about B-17's today
without feeling the tug of their great purpose and destiny. They
were the two-fisted tin cans that tore the roof off a deranged
empire. When they swarmed over occupied Europe, people blessed
them. One day, when several hundred of them roared across Holland,
a little girl cried out in fear. Her father put his arm around
her, took her hand, and looked up. "Listen to it, Helene," he
told her. "It's the music of angels."

One
Last Look by Rex Alan Smith.

The
Memphis Belle Moves to the National Air Force Museum in Dayton,
OH.

Photo
courtesy the WPAFB web site.

On October 12, 2005,
the Memphis Belle arrived at the Wright-Patterson AFB Area B restoration
hanger. She is now sitting there awaiting the beginning of her
final restoration.

The Air Force had required
that the Memphis Belle Memorial Association have an independent
feasibility study done. That study was done in March, 2005 and
concluded that there was little chance for necessary monies to
be raised by the citizens of Memphis necessary to build a permanent
museum and restore the aircraft. In August, the board of the MBMA
relinquished control of the aircraft to the USAF, and in October
she was moved.

From the WPAFB web
site:

"The
B-17F "Memphis Belle," the Eighth Air Force's first
heavy bomber to complete 25 successful bombing missions over Europe
and return to the United States, has been moved to National Museum
of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton,
Ohio, under the terms of an agreement between the Memphis Belle
Memorial Association and the U.S. Air Force.

"The
aircraft, which is currently in the Museum's Restoration hangar
in Area B of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, is being prepared
to undergo several years of restoration work.

"Once
restoration on the aircraft begins, the public will be invited
to view it as part of the Museum's 'Behind the Scenes' tours.
Please check the website again for future announcements and updates
about these tours."

In a statement released by Jim Harris, membership
director for the Memphis Belle Memorial Association, Mr. Harris
made reference to the restoration folks at Dayton:

"They are saying from five to ten years for the restoration.
They are going to totally restore her, and they will do a good
job. They have some talented folks there.

"It would behoove us all to keep track and put pressure on
Dayton not to delay. Also, the MBMA board voted to stay in 'business'
and keep their web site going."

We
need your help! This site is dedicated to preserving the stories
of B-17 crewmembers and we need your contribution. Please take
a few moments to tell us about you or your family member's experience
with the B-17. Just click here to add
your information to our Veteran's section.

To
see our Veteran's page and find out what it is all about, click
here.

They came
from all over the United States. From big cities like Los Angeles,
New York, Chicago and they came from hundreds of small towns
from Maine to Kentucky to the Dakotas. Young men in their late
teens to early twenty's, bonded together for a common cause.
It wasn't patriotism, it wasn't for glory, it wasn't to fight
an evil dictator across the pond or across the Pacific. It
was to fight for the guy who stood beside them. It was to fight
because it was their responsibility. Sure some flew for the
ideals of love of country, but once they got "over there",
it was about not letting your buddies down.

Thousands
of these young men rode to war in what has become perhaps the
single most romanticized piece of machinery ever to roll off production
lines in Washington and California. You will never hear of the
tanker talking about his love for the Sherman, the Naval man about
the admiration of his Sub or even the Marine about the affection
for his carbine but talk to the crewman of a B-17 and they speak
of her as one would speak of their first true love.

The Queen
was well deserving of such admiration. Time and again she won
the hearts of those who flew her by displaying a ruggedness that
bordered on human will power. Three engines out, holes all over
her body, control surfaces shot away, pieces of her scattered
across Europe, and still she brought her boys home. If the crews
loved her, those who flew against her had a profound respect for
her as well. She was no easy target, no sitting duck. Try to harm
her and those boys she carried could swat the aggressor out of
the sky in a flash. Other aircraft would come along that could
do the job faster, further, with a greater load but none could
do it better in the skies over Europe than she could.

The story
of the Flying Fortress is one that cannot be told with just cold,
hard facts like dates, names, places and events. This is a story
that has been told, must continue to be told, by the men who lived
it. The stories of courage, bravery, and perhaps more than any
other, of outright, unbridled, fear. Here, on these pages, it
is hoped that some of these stories will come to life and be preserved
for all to share. For if we choose to forget the horrors that
war brings, war will once again become a most viable option in
times of unrest rather than a measure of last resort.

A
message from the Author:

This site
is dedicated to those who flew in the hostile skies around
the world during the Second World War in the B-17 Flying Fortress.
Many men fought, and died, protecting the freedoms that we
hold dear today. Unfortunately, those that survived the war
are growing fewer in number with each passing year and with
them are going their stories of survival. This site, and those
that are linked from this site, are an attempt to preserve
those stories so that they may be passed on to our children,
grandchildren and, hopefully, to their grandchildren as well.
To the Veterans who fought and to their families, I wish to
express my deepest gratitude.